crickets

Sir, It was great to read your digital feature ‘Insects: the new hipster protein?’ on the development of the insect sector.

In the UK, however, I can’t help but feel that the extremely positive data that came from it has been looked at in the wrong light, and that presenting new ideas such as this with such an overall top-down market overview is the wrong way to go. An idea like insects has a very clear target audience. It is young, driven by ecological issues and health, and has a strong sense of consideration of where the world is going, not just now, but for their children.

This will be a largely growing market with every year that passes. The current market interest level of 23% among 25 to 34-year-olds is incredible.

Away from insects, let’s also consider the 23% market penetration of the overall meat snacking market, which had a value of £45m in 2016 [The Grocer] and we can quickly see the potential. This is what we should focus on.

Articles like this are great, but stating in the first paragraph that ‘Only 14%’ would show interest is putting an unnecessary negative spin on a sector that will be very large in years to come, or much sooner. What percentage of the market is open to prunes?

Neil Whippey, co-founder, Eat Grub

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